


600’s Enough For Me

by Jak_the_ATAT



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Based on season 9, Divergent Season 9, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda Nice!Crowley, M/M, MCD, human!Cas, vampire!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18965677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jak_the_ATAT/pseuds/Jak_the_ATAT
Summary: Castiel wants nothing more than to see Dean again. And he will go broad lengths to do so, even if it means folding 1000 paper cranes.





	600’s Enough For Me

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by @ratafia ‘s prompt ‘Cas folds a 1000 paper cranes, while remembering Dean, who passed away. His wish is for them to meet again, and just as he folds the last one, Dean appears before him. He was reborn as a god, Protector of Kids Forgotten and Neglected.’
> 
> Big, big, big shoutout to my awesome beta @Devral ! Thanks for putting up with all my typos haha.

596...

597...

598...

Castiel groaned as his fingers became too wobbly to manipulate the paper. The harder he concentrated, the worse the folds became. His fingers stiffened the longer he worked. And the new crane turned out sloppier than the previous.

After a good ten minutes of fighting the same two folds, Castiel gave up and threw his head on the table, chucking the origami crane to the side.

Footsteps patted behind him and Castiel reached to his left to grab a roll of thread. He held it up in the air over his head until rough hands took it away. Next came the single snip of scissors. "How’s the human body? From here it looks like absolute shit, to put it lightly," Crowley's voice sang. Castiel raised his head and watched as Crowley threaded the cranes expertly. “How many of these have you made?” 

“598,” Castiel informed Crowley. “And I plan to reach 600 by tonight. I have been folding a steady number of 50 cranes a day. I will not slow down now."

Crowley moved a chair to the wall and stood on it. "When will you accept it? You can't save Dean from Heaven or Hell. And you can't save Sam from himself, either." He found a place to hang the crane and tied it up.

"I believe this may be the solution to fix this all," Castiel said. "Senbazuru is said to make one’s wish come true. And I wish to see Dean."

Getting down, Crowley pulled the chair back to the table and sat across from Castiel. "Folding 1000 paper cranes won't deny the truth, Castiel. You're human. Your body cannot recover like it did with your grace. You're dying."

"I will see Dean again even if it's in my last breath," Castiel hissed. He shoved the 598th crane into Crowley’s hands. Then he grabbed another piece of paper and began working with it. Crowley's mouth turned down farther, clearly disapproving of Castiel’s choice. Forcing his fingers to move, Castiel managed to make one more crane before his energy was shot. Emotions he couldn't describe stabbed him worse than a knife ever could.

Castiel didn't object when Crowley picked him up and set him in the wheelchair. “You can make that 600th crane tomorrow when you’re awake.” Castiel bit his lip. He was so tired... So tired of living like this, of being reliant on a demon. How far he had fallen...

“Can I at least see Sam before I rest?"

Sam was in the dungeon, tied up. When Castiel and Crowley visited him, the hunting eyes hadn’t gone away. Sam lashed forward, screaming through a parched throat, raw from his constant yowling. "Hungry! Food! Need!" Castiel watched the withering vampire attempt to escape. But Sam wouldn't get food tonight, not until the cure could be concocted.

“Sleep well, Sam,” Castiel said, nodding to Crowley. The demon locked up the dungeon, then wheeled Castiel to his room.

In the room, Crowley released the wheelchair. "I trust you will be fine readying yourself?" Crowley asked. Castiel nodded. Even with Crowley hopped up on enough human blood to have human thoughts, he didn't trust the man very much.

Well... to some extent. His life was quite dependant on Crowley for the time being. 

Castiel readied for bed after Crowley left. Before he shut out the lights, he gathered one of the papers he left in his room and tried to fold it. His vision kept blurring in and out and his fingers wouldn't work. Deep into the night he fumbled about, only stopping when the clock struck 11, two hours after Crowley left. Crowley was right; he’d do this one tomorrow.

Castiel lay down and stared up at the paper cranes Crowley had hung. The first fifty were scattered around Castiel’s room, taped to the ceiling. Then the cranes travelled into the hall, and now Crowley was taping or tying them around the dining area. Wherever one looked, cranes hung from a place nearby. Only the Winchester brother's rooms and the dungeon remained craneless.

Sleep burned at his more-than-likely red eyes. After a slight debate with himself, Castiel chose sleep and closed his eyes. It wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to see the images cast behind his eyelids. His mind threw him back to the car crash. He could still see the fire from Baby's engine. They had been hit in the middle of an intersection. He might not have legs anymore but Castiel could still feel that numb balance between no pain and searing pain. He still saw the car door severing his legs in half. He heard Dean screaming for help. Sam's blood dropped in streams onto Castiel. 

He must have passed out because his next memory was of Crowley. Crowley being the first visitor in the hospital room. Crowley pulling him out of the hospital room early. Crowley announcing Castiel didn't have much longer to live. Crowley stating Sam was vampirized in an attempt to survive. To have the demon care this much to break the truth both angered and soothed Castiel. Of all people, why Crowley? What benefit did he get out of this?

Then again, when was Crowley not an enigma?

Castiel opened his eyes and watched one of the cranes swirl slowly around its thread. Wet droplets burned his eyes and he tried to wipe them away. They kept welling up, no matter how much he wiped. “I will bring you home, Dean," he said softly, his voice cracking. “I will see you one more time." He could feel Dean next to him. He could feel Dean’s hand on his shoulder, then his chest. It felt like Dean was assuring him that Castiel's dream would come true. Castiel smiled and let himself fall asleep, pushing himself through the memories to see the sweeter dreams of him and Dean reunited.

* * *

When Castiel awoke, Dean was laying right next to him. “Dean..?”

“Hey, Cas.”

“But… how..?” Castiel sat up a little. Dean moved with him so their eyes were level. “I haven’t folded a thousand paper cranes yet.”

“Whoever said you needed a thousand? 600’s enough for me.”

A smile broke Castiel’s confused expression. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Dean snuggled up against Castiel. “Now, how about we lay in bed a little longer? We got nowhere to be.”

“Indeed.” The two lay back down, Castiel breathing in Dean’s scent and bathing in his warmth. Dean was here. His dream had come true.

Castiel couldn’t be happier.

Outside Castiel’s room, Crowley strode to the door with a tray of breakfast balanced on one hand. He knocked on the door before he entered, pausing when he saw Castiel’s smile. Crowley’s eyebrow raised for a moment before his expression softened ever so slightly. “Well, what do you know?” He said to himself as his eyes fell on the unfinished 600th crane still in Castiel’s hands. “He died smiling. I hope he’s in Heaven with Dean.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and/or a kudos!


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